News Release Archive

Reclamation receives Biological Opinion for Operation & Maintenance of St. Mary Irrigation Features, Montana

Media Contact: Brittany Jones, 406-247-7611, bjones@usbr.gov

For Release: September 28, 2020

BILLINGS, Mont. –The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued a Biological Opinion on Sept. 4, 2020, in response to the Bureau of Reclamation’s request for consultation under the Endangered Species Act for continued operation and maintenance of the St. Mary Unit of the Milk River Project and its effects on bull trout populations. FWS determined Reclamation’s operations of the St. Mary Diversion Dam and Canal and pertinent features are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of bull trout populations. The Biological Opinion covers the period from 2020 through 2025.

The Biological Opinion was based on Reclamation’s Biological Assessment which provided the most up-to-date information about bull trout population status and trends in the area.

“Reclamation will work with our partners and irrigation districts to implement minimization measures to reduce entrainment of bull trout in the St. Mary Canal throughout the period covered by the Biological Opinion,” said Steve Davies, Reclamation’s Montana Area Manager. “We have established a joint team with FWS to guide implementation of these measures during this period to ensure healthy population levels of bull trout can continue.”

Bull trout were listed as a threatened species under the ESA in 1999. FWS and Reclamation collaborated extensively over the last two decades to research bull trout and identify the impacts of Reclamation’s operations on bull trout. In April 2020, Reclamation initiated formal consultation with the FWS on the impacts of project operations on bull trout.

Congress authorized construction of the Milk River Project for irrigation purposes in 1905. The St. Mary Canal was constructed between 1907 and 1915 and is the primary water source for eight irrigation districts, the Fort Belknap Indian Irrigation Project, contract pumpers, and several municipalities downstream of Havre serving approximately 110,000 acres of land and about 18,000 users.

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